October 23, 2013

My friend Tanushree had just got done with a major presentation and it was a good reason to celebrate. She is one of my best cooking buddies but sadly we do not get chance to spend time in kitchen together very often.. Made good use of one such rare evenings with all smiles !! Lasagna was the first Italian dish (leaving pizza aside) I have ever tried. This dish was an experiment since I have forgotten how I made it a year ago. Thanks to our blog that the recipe is getting noted down this time ..for you and me :)
The Turkey lasagna with caramelized onions turned out to be delicious and all of us ate way more than we could / we should.

Serves: 6-8Prep Time: 30 minsCook Time : 30 minsIngredients:

Lasagna sheets (~ 10 sheets)

Ground turkey (1lb); Can be substituted with chicken or more veggies like cauliflower, mushroom to make veg lasagna.

Olive oil / butter (2 tbsp)

Shredded mozzarella cheese (2-3 cups);

Onion (1 medium sized sliced)

Garlic (4 cloves chopped well)

Red and yellow peppers ( 2-3 medium sized, sliced);

Tomatoes (1 -2 chopped)

Cilantro (3-4 tbsp chopped )

Italian seasoning (2tbsp);

Ground black pepper (2 tsp)

Ground thyme (1 tsp)

Hot sauce and ketchup (to taste and optional; I like HOT food )

Salt (to taste)

Cilantro leaves for garnishing

Caramelized onion rings for garnishing.

Method :

Turkey filling

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

Bring water to boil in a large container (so that lasagne sheets fit intact) and add sheets. Boil for 10-15 minutes with intermittent stirring. Drain hot water and rinse with cold water to prevent sheets from getting sticky. Set aside.

Turkey Filling:

In a small pan, heat 1 tsp olive oil, and add onion rings and allow them to cook in low heat until caramelized. After few minutes add garlic. Fry well for ~ 5 mins.

Serving Merlot from Whole foods with this dinner was an excellent idea !!
Recipe might seem a little complicated (blame my novice writing style) but it's not...It is surely time consuming so can be saved for special nights, or done ahead of time. :) Give it a shot.

October 21, 2013

Every time someone's parents are visiting, the rest of us literally beeline to eat 'homemade' food. Recently, we were invited by our friends for some authentic 'homemade' food from Kerala. I landed a couple of hours early to learn how to make Malabari Porota from my friend's father-in-law (FIL). I brought one 'handvo' as offering for my 'guruji'. I will save the handvo recipe for another post.

It was an interesting afternoon. My friend's FIL speaks only Malayalam, and a few words of English. I do not speak Malayalam at all. All afternoon, we communicated through my friend as the translator, or using sign language. He asked me how I made the handvo, and I showed him by pulling out the ingredients from their pantry, their fridge and sometimes even Google images. He clearly laid out the ingredients necessary for the porota for me, and then asked me to write the recipe. He patiently posed for each picture that I wanted to click while he made the porotas. In the end, he made me try a couple of porotas, and even gave me 'homework'- to practice making them at home and make some in front of him before they leave for India in two months!

In a large bowl, place three cups of all purpose flour. Dissolve salt to the 11/2 cup of water. Now knead the dough carefully for a long time till the dough is semi-soft, not sticky at all. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Dough balls

Divide the dough into dough balls about the size of a tennis ball. Each dough ball would make two porotas. Baste some oil on them, cover with damp cloth and let them rest for atleast 30 minutes.

Grease the countertop with oil. Apply some oil in your palms. Take one dough ball and flatten it with the heel of your palm till it is about a 6-7 inch disc, of even thickness.

Place right fingers under the disc facing the top and the left fingers on the top left side of the dough disc, facing the counter. Flip your hands around while holding the dough so that the right hand fingers are now facing the bottom/ counter and the left hand fingers are facing the top. Repeat. Dough will gradually stretch and become thinner. Dont worry if you make any holes. It will all be covered up in the end.

Divide the stretched dough with the back of a spoon

Once it is thin and almost transparent, divide it into two equal parts with the back of a spoon or a knife. Holding the two ends of one piece, stretch slightly till it folds into a long rope/ ribbon. Roll from one end, into a rosette and tuck the other end under it. Repeat for the remaining dough. Cover the rosettes with damp cloth and let it rest for another 30 minutes. I tried to capture the entire rolling process over here.

Little dough rossettes

Grease the heel of your palm with oil. Take one dough rossette and gently pat it into a disc, about 6-7 inches in diameter.

Heat a griddle and cook the porota on both sides till it is golden brown in color.

Place the cooked and still hot porota on the countertop and slap to crush it between your hands, so that it becomes fluffy and flakey. Be very careful, as the porota is very very hot. I did it only after the porota was slightly cooler. Its easier to see the crushing in the video here.

October 8, 2013

Cupcakes are always safer to bake as we can control the portion size and it takes lesser time. So last week for a friends get together, I decided to bake very simple chocolate ones. Never doubt the power of chocolate :P Wanted it to look a little fancy and hence decided to use mocha frosting; I love mocha :D and this recipe has been tried and tasted by a friend so I gave it a shot.

Packed tight and ready to go :)

Prep Time: 30 minsBaking Time: 30 minsServes: I never comment on that ;) it made 12 cupcakes though!

Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt;
set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and
fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in
vanilla.

With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two batches,
alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending with flour.

Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

While cupcakes are in oven, prepare the frosting.

Frosting:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave at low power.

Add coffee powder and blend well to make sure there are no lumps. Let it cool.

Whip the cream with electric mixer till it forms stiff peaks and add the chocolate mixture to it.

Tip from friend: If you don't want to add chocolate, you can mix the coffee with a few teaspoons of whipping cream or milk and then add it to the whipped cream.

Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then
spread with frosting using a table knife or small offset
spatula.
Decorate with grated chocolate, walnut / almonds or anything of your choice.

About us

A blog by two foodies to indulge in our passion for food that makes us happy and everyone around us happier! Hope you enjoy reading and trying out these recipes as much as we enjoy sharing them :)
Ajanta from Amherst & Hetal from Houston